July 24, 2019 • 19 mins
One of Britain’s most famous and controversial politicians, Boris Johnson, has become the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. His first big task will be to make good on his Brexit promise to lead the country out of European Union. Annabelle Timsit, reporter at Quartz and who is based in London, joins us for all the reaction to the new prime minister.
Next, Sammy, the one-winged bald eagle has been birdnapped. The 35 year old bird has been living a good life at the Quogue Wildlife Refuge on Long Island since 1988 when he was shot and had to get his right wing amputated. Now, someone has broken into his cage and taken him. Marisa Nelson, assistant director of the Quogue Wildlife Refuge, joins us to share Sammy’s story and call for his return.
Finally, we take a look at what makes ADX Florence the country’s most secure prison. It is all a matter of design. Holding a who’s who of bad guys and now the infamous El Chapo, the Alcatraz of the Rockies is literally built into the side of a mountain. Soundproof cells are made of concrete from top to bottom and only has a disorienting 4-inch wide window to the outside world. Eleanor Cummins, assistant editor at Popular Science, joins us for a look at ADX Florence.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Wednesday July. I'm Oscar Ramiras in Los Angeles and
this is the Daily Dive. One of Britain's most famous
and controversial politicians, Boris Johnson, has become the new Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom. His first big task will
be to make good on his Brexit promise to lead
(00:20):
the country out of the European Union. Annabelle tim Sit,
reporter at Courts who is based in London, joins us
for all the reaction to the new Prime Minister. Next, Sammy,
the one winged bald eagle, has been burdenapped. The thirty
five year old bird has been living a good life
at the Quag Wildlife Refuge on Long Island since nine
when he was shot and had to have his right
(00:42):
wing amputated. Now someone has broken into his cage and
taken him. Maurica Nelson, assistant director at the Quag Wildlife Refuge,
joins us to share Sammy story and called for his return. Finally,
we take a look at what makes a d X
Florence the country's most secure prison. It's all a matter
of the zign holding a who's who of bad guys
(01:02):
and now the infamous El Chapo. The Alcatraz of the
Rockies is literally built into the side of a mountain.
Soundproof cells are made of concrete from top to bottom
and only has a disorienting four inch wide window to
the outside world. Eleanor Cummins, assistant editor at Popular Science,
joins us for a look at a d X Florence.
It's news without the noise. Let's dive in and I say,
(01:26):
I say to all the doctors, dude, we are going
to energize the country. We're gonna get brick sit Doney's
gonna take advantage of able the opportunities that it will
Britain in a new spirit of can do and we
are once again getting to believe in ourselves and what
we can achieve. Joining us now is annabel Timsit, reporter
at Courts based in London. Thanks for joining us, Annabelle,
(01:47):
Thanks for having me. Boris Johnson is now the new
UK Prime Minister. He already divides the party and the
British public. Tell us a little bit about what the
overall reaction is to his a sentence to the Prime Minister.
So it wasn't necessarily a surprise. Let's just say that
he won today's election. He was widely predicted to win
(02:10):
today and he in fact one in a landslide with
sixty six percent of Conservative Party members who voted. It's
more a reaction of resignation, let's say today over here
in London. For a lot of people have expected this
to happen, but you know, aren't necessarily pleased. There was
a few preemptive resignations from the cabinet already. Who who
(02:30):
who left? Yeah, absolutely, So you know, a fair amount
of that is normal in the sense that when a
new prime minister comes in, you know, some of the
people who were in the cabinet of the previous prime
minister will leave their posts to kind of clear out
for the next team. So some of that is normal.
But you know, we've seen specific people say that they
are preemptively resigning because they refused to work under Johnson.
(02:52):
The UK Education Minister quit before the election results were announced.
The Foreign Office Minister also resigned, The Secretary of State
for International Development resigned, The Chancellor of the Exchequer also resigned.
So we've seen some really high profile people leave government
and say that they will not work under Johnson, or
(03:13):
say that they don't approve of his vision of Brexit.
The UK is one of the top players in the world.
What has been the reaction from other world leaders. Yeah,
we've had quite a different scale of reactions, so it
depends on and who you look at. But the first
person at least that I saw make an official statement
on this and reach out was Donald Trump. He tweeted
(03:35):
about it kind of just a few minutes after the
results were announced. He said, congratulations on becoming the new
prime minister. He will be great. And then you know,
we had some foreign presidents and other leaders, like the
president of Turkey, the Prime Minister of Israel. But the
interesting part of this is looking at the reactions from
European leaders. Uh, and when you look there, the reaction
(03:58):
was decidedly more tempered and a little bit more cold.
So you had, for example, the Brexit spokesman for the
European Parliament, he tweeted that there would be a meeting
of the Brexit Steering Group to discuss what this would
mean for Europeans, and the European Commission Brexit negotiator also
had a sort of form type response. And we didn't
(04:22):
hear anything from kind of the major European presidents and
leaders like you know, the French president or a Glen
Merkel uh for for a long time, and when they
did speak, it wasn't necessarily the warmest reaction to his election.
Tell us a little bit more about Boris Johnson and
why he's so controversial. He was a journalist before he
(04:44):
was the Mayor of London and obviously now Prime Minister
and a very hardline proponent for Brexit, which is also
the next big thing he needs to take care of. Yeah, absolutely,
and I mean he has a lot of other challenges.
You know, people here and elsewhere, obviously and rightfully so,
are focused on Brexit because it's the biggest challenge right now,
but there are other really immediate challenges. The UK is
(05:04):
in the middle of a diplomatic crisis with a run
over um the Strait of Hormuz, so you know, he
has a lot of challenges that he's going to have
to deal with, and I think some people are worried
that he's not necessarily up for the job. Now you asked,
you know a little bit about him. He's a very
controversial figure. He was fired from a publication that he
(05:27):
worked at previously for making up a quote. He had
a reputation when he was a journalist as somebody who
was a very good writer but didn't always stick closely
enough to the truth in his articles. Um he you know,
then entered politics. He became mayor of London, which was
kind of an incredible feat because London is a very
(05:50):
liberal and cosmopolitan city and usually the mayors that get
elected are not conservatives. The last thing I want to
ask is just a little more on Brexit. Theresa May
stepped down after part meant repeatedly rejected the withdrawal agreement
she struck with the European Union. Boris Johnson says he
can get the EU to renegotiate on this, but they
say that they're not going to do that, and economists
(06:12):
are saying that if there's a no deal Brexit, that's
gonna disrupt trade, it might plunge the UK into a recession.
He said, come October thirty one, which is the deadline,
we're going to get out one way or the other.
It's the first thing that he's gonna have to be handling. Yeah. Absolutely,
And I mean the deadline is really looming October three.
And he said it, you know, we're leaving no matter what,
(06:34):
We're leaving. With a dealer without a deal, and I
think that's what's scaring a lot of people is his
willingness to entertain the idea that the UK will leave
without a deal um And like you said, economists, analysts
have all said that that would be a terrible outcome
for the UK and for the EU two. So I
think everybody's pretty keen to avoid that. But he's he's
a little bit of an unpredictable actor. So you know,
(06:56):
we don't really know why he thinks that the conditions
are to be any different for him than they were
for Theresa May, but he seems pretty convinced that he's
going to be able to get a different deal out
of the EU. And some of President Trump's follow up
he also called Boris Johnson Britain's Trump and called him
tough and smart. So it seems like we have two
very similar guys at the helm right now. So it'll
(07:17):
be very interesting to see what's in store for the
UK and what's in store for the United States as
the relationship is going to continue there. Annabelle tim sit
reporter at Courts based in London. Thank you very much
for joining us. Thanks for having me. We can only
(07:41):
speculate we don't know who did it, so then we
don't know why they did it. I mean if the
sad thought is potentially they wanted him for his feathers,
which is there is a black market for um bald
eagle and golden eagle feathers, which is, you know, a
very sad thought. Joining us now is Maurica Nelson, assistant
director at the Quag Wildlife Refuge. Thanks for joining as Marissa,
(08:01):
thanks for having me off. We're gonna be talking about
Sammy the bald eagle. He's had a pretty tough life
as it is, and now we've just found out that
he's been bird napped. He is a thirty five year
old bald eagle and somebody broke into the Wildlife Refuge there,
which is located on Long Island, and and took him.
(08:21):
Tell us a little bit more about this, Marisa. Yes,
so this happened last Tuesday. Last Tuesday morning, we discovered
he was not in his enclosure. The cage was cut through,
and so that was extremely upsetting to find out that
someone broken and stole sam the bald eagle. Now you
(08:42):
guys have surveillance footage of this. So somebody broke in
between two fift and four fifteen in the morning. We
don't know where the bird is exactly, either wrapped up
in a blanket or a bag or something, but he's
walking away pretty calmly. He was, and that was quite
disturbing and that he seemed quite comfortable and confident there. Um,
my husband myself live on the refuge property and so
(09:06):
unfortunately didn't hear anything. And we have the cameras up
that did detect him, you know, coming and going, and
so that is assisting in in some of the investigation. Now,
bald eagle is quite a large animal. They're very strong,
they have sharp talents. I mean, how easy is it
(09:27):
to kind of subdue one, to grab one from an enclosure?
At first, he had to cut through two sets of
fences to get in. I don't know if the bird
would be startled by somebody kind of coming into his enclosure.
How do you subdue a bird like this? Well, I'm
not sure exactly what happened. I don't know if the
bird was tranquilized. He's not a handleable bird, you know,
(09:48):
there are some birds of prey that are used to
being handled and on a falcony glove, He's certainly is
not one that we handled. He did not like being
very close to people. Marisa, you've been working and handle
Sammy since two thousand three. Tell us a little bit
about him, what does he eat, what does he do
during throughout the day, and and also tell us about
his his wing because he only has one wing and
(10:10):
had to be the other one had to be amputated. Right,
So so he at the Quack Wildlife Refuge wee house
permanently injured wildlife, so in the outdoor enclosures. To instance,
um sam the Baldic moved in here because he needed
uh permanent housing. He was out in the Western state
somewhere with shots how to have his wing amputated. And
(10:31):
then they've found housing for him because he was an
unreleasable bird because he's not flighted. Um. So that's his
background story. And then once he's been here, he's lived
happily in his enclosure, gets around really well with climbing
and using his very strong feet and hopping around. You know,
while he's in the cage. He has a big bird
bath that he likes to bathe in. He does interact
(10:52):
with all the visitors dot com. He's very chatty as
you can see from the video that's on our Facebook
and website. As a bird of prey, they are eat eaters,
so we would feed him, you know, dead rodents and
sometimes fresh fish. A lot of local fisher men and
women would bring us some local fish for him to eat.
He was healthy. Since he's been here, he hasn't needed
to see a vent or anything, so he was a
(11:13):
pretty strong, healthy bird, minus his disability of having just
one wing. It is a federal crime to possess a
bald eagle without a permit. I've read that it's even
illegal to possess a single bald eagle feather. Um. You know.
I obviously we don't know, but if you can speculate
what purpose would somebody want to take this bald eagle,
(11:33):
we can only speculate. We don't know who did it,
so then we don't know why they did it. I mean,
if the sad thought is potentially they wanted him for
his feathers, which is there is a black market for
um bald eagle and golden eagle feathers, which is, you know,
a very sad thought. So it's being investigated thoroughly right now.
There's a variety of law enforcement agencies working on this
(11:55):
because this is being taken very seriously because it is
a federal crime considered grand larceny at this time and
it's been over a week now, you know, there is
a fifteen thousand dollar reward for anything that you know,
for any information and leading that could possibly lead to
and rest. Um what have police been saying about this
so far? They haven't really come up with anything just yet, well,
(12:15):
nothing that is that we're sharing or reporting on at
this time. So the the reward is being provided by
both Nasson Suffolk County SPC a S as well as
our local crime stoppers. So we're hoping that even though
the of course the priority is to get Sam the
Baldy go back here safely, that the reward will lead
(12:40):
to UM finding the perpetrator. I read one of the
stories that you guys don't necessarily even want to press charges.
You just want Sam back alive and you can drop
them off there or at a local vet or something.
It's you know, you just want him back unharmed. That's
the priority is to UM drop him somewhere safely. You
can call in anonymously to crime stoppers. Short of somewhere
(13:00):
anonymously and let us know. Worry is, everyone knows that
theory is being looked for, and so that is certainly
the priority is his well being. Yeah, I mean he's
a beautiful bird. I've seen the videos. He he looks
like he's got a great personality and interacts well with
the community there. Who've you known him now for many
many years. So best of luck. I hope somebody delivers
the tip that leads us to him, or somebody turns
(13:21):
him back in. Maurica Nelson, Assistant director at the quag
Wildlife Refuge, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you, Oscar.
You've actually been designed really carefully so that the slits
in the wall are angled up so that you cannot
(13:43):
sense your own location in this giant compound. So you're
maybe getting a little bit of a view of the sky,
but you have sort of this planned disorientation at all times.
Joining us now is Eleanor Cummins, Assistant editor at Popular Science.
Last week, El Chapo was sentenced to life in prison
plus thirty years for drug trafficking, money laundering, all sorts
(14:05):
of bad stuff. El Chappo has just been this kind
of legendary crime figure for the Sinaloa cartel for so long.
He was put in prison twice and escaped twice. He
just has this, for lack of better word, amazing story
behind him. But now he's off to prison for good.
He's going to be going to the Alcatraz of the Rockies.
(14:26):
It's the super max prison known as a d X Florence,
and it sits in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains.
This is where they send people who are no longer
being rehabilitated. They're just there to live the rest of
their life out in prison. Tell us a little bit
about this place, because it's kind of a who's who
of bad guys. It definitely is. So El Chappo will
be joining one of the brothers involved in the Boston
(14:47):
Marathon bombing. He'll be joining the UNI bomber. He'll be
joining Mafioso's people who were secretly spying for the Soviets,
an individual involved in the nine eleven conspiracy, someone who
planned the ninet World Trade Center bombing. It really is,
uh the worst of the worst. So what elevates this
place above the rest? Because, as I mentioned, he escaped twice.
(15:09):
One time he escaped in a laundry cart another time,
he had people dig a tunnel underneath the prison right
up to us cell. He popped down. There was like
a motorcycle attached to a rail system, and he drove
like a mile out to like a little safe house
and then he escaped in six months later. He was
caught after that, but he's known for these dramatic escapes.
(15:32):
What's going to prevent him from doing it this time?
A d X Florence is in the rocky mountains at
the very base, and it's sort of this remote facility
where they feel, you know, that they have really got
things locked down at the perimeter. They have lasers, they
have dogs, they have twelve gun towers. They really have
that area secured and even if you got out, you know,
(15:53):
you'd be in the middle of nowhere. What's more is
the way that the actual cells are designed and the
facilities that the inmates are living in. The cells are
concrete and reportedly soundproof, the idea there being that prisoners
will be able to communicate to each other that way.
The floor is like loaded with sensors, pressure sensors. There
are sort of lasers inside as well. They are watching
(16:16):
you all the time. They can literally, you know, sense
your footsteps, so it's extremely monitored. Yeah, that is crazy.
There's four remote controlled doors, and they can control the
movement the flow. I'm assuming of all those doors as well.
You mentioned now everything in the cell is concrete, the shower,
the desk, the bed. I've seen some pictures of this.
(16:37):
UM how big are these cells that each person is assigned.
There's seven by twelve feet, so pretty tight quarters. And
the thing too, is this environment is pretty much the
only thing you're going to see for the rest of
your stay. Prisoners spend roughly twenty three hours a day
alone in their cell, and so it's their entire world.
There's a slot in the door where they throw you
your meals, but still there's little to no interaction with
(17:00):
inmates or guards. Amnesty International did a look into the
facility there and they called it entombed isolation in the
US prison system. But they said that prisoners go days
without barely a few words being spoken to them. Right. Yeah,
So psychiatric evaluations like meetings with your priest or and mom,
all of those things are going on through this slot
(17:22):
in the door, and they're fairly rare. Even when you're
meeting with your lawyer. UM, Amnesty International reported, you're totally
tied up. They're restrained, and the restraints can be really severe.
People have reported that inmates have their feet and hands
shackled and then all of that tied to belt around
their waist, and sometimes their cuffed hands are even placed
inside a black box to further restrain them. So you know,
(17:45):
you might get these sort of moments of freedom or
human interaction, but they're extremely limited. You're physically limited. The
spaces is really just designed for holding people right for
the rest of their lives, and that extends to your
time outside also, which is are limited. Their outside space
is kind of an individual cage, separated from other people.
The last thing I wanted to ask you about because
(18:06):
I mean, this place just sounds fascinating. I'd be curious
to hear if anybody has ever tried anything suspect are
trying to fight somebody or get out of there. But
tell us about these windows that each cell has, because
it's fascinating the way they laid out in a way
that you can't tell where you are on the premises
(18:27):
still right, So every cell has a four inch wide
window that allows for some natural light, which maybe sounds nice,
but They've actually been designed really carefully so that the
slits in the wall are angled up so that you
cannot sense your own location in this giant compound. And
this is, you know, a further security measure. So you're
maybe getting a little bit of a view of the sky,
(18:49):
maybe you can see the roof of the building next
to you, but you have sort of this planned disorientation
at all times. And this is something that the very
few people who have left a d X flour and
have remarked on being one of the most harrowing parts
of their stay in the facility is just, uh, you know,
looking out this window and not being able to see anything,
and and knowing that when you arrived, the Rocky Mountains
(19:11):
were there, right, They're brilliant and beautiful, and you're never
going to see them again. It's just an extremely isolating
and controlled environment. Eleanor Cummins, Assistant editor at Popular Science.
Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you. That's
it for today. Join us on social media at Daily
(19:33):
Dive Pod on Twitter and Daily Dive Podcast on Facebook.
Leave us a comment, give us a rating, and tell
us the stories that you're interested in. Follow us on
I Heart Radio or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
This episode of The Daily Dive is produced by Brooke
Peterson and engineered by Tony Sorrentina. I'm oscar A Mirrors
and this was your Daily Dive
It's Wednesday July. I'm Oscar Ramiras in Los Angeles and
this is the Daily Dive. One of Britain's most famous
and controversial politicians, Boris Johnson, has become the new Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom. His first big task will
be to make good on his Brexit promise to lead
(00:20):
the country out of the European Union. Annabelle tim Sit,
reporter at Courts who is based in London, joins us
for all the reaction to the new Prime Minister. Next, Sammy,
the one winged bald eagle, has been burdenapped. The thirty
five year old bird has been living a good life
at the Quag Wildlife Refuge on Long Island since nine
when he was shot and had to have his right
(00:42):
wing amputated. Now someone has broken into his cage and
taken him. Maurica Nelson, assistant director at the Quag Wildlife Refuge,
joins us to share Sammy story and called for his return. Finally,
we take a look at what makes a d X
Florence the country's most secure prison. It's all a matter
of the zign holding a who's who of bad guys
(01:02):
and now the infamous El Chapo. The Alcatraz of the
Rockies is literally built into the side of a mountain.
Soundproof cells are made of concrete from top to bottom
and only has a disorienting four inch wide window to
the outside world. Eleanor Cummins, assistant editor at Popular Science,
joins us for a look at a d X Florence.
It's news without the noise. Let's dive in and I say,
(01:26):
I say to all the doctors, dude, we are going
to energize the country. We're gonna get brick sit Doney's
gonna take advantage of able the opportunities that it will
Britain in a new spirit of can do and we
are once again getting to believe in ourselves and what
we can achieve. Joining us now is annabel Timsit, reporter
at Courts based in London. Thanks for joining us, Annabelle,
(01:47):
Thanks for having me. Boris Johnson is now the new
UK Prime Minister. He already divides the party and the
British public. Tell us a little bit about what the
overall reaction is to his a sentence to the Prime Minister.
So it wasn't necessarily a surprise. Let's just say that
he won today's election. He was widely predicted to win
(02:10):
today and he in fact one in a landslide with
sixty six percent of Conservative Party members who voted. It's
more a reaction of resignation, let's say today over here
in London. For a lot of people have expected this
to happen, but you know, aren't necessarily pleased. There was
a few preemptive resignations from the cabinet already. Who who
(02:30):
who left? Yeah, absolutely, So you know, a fair amount
of that is normal in the sense that when a
new prime minister comes in, you know, some of the
people who were in the cabinet of the previous prime
minister will leave their posts to kind of clear out
for the next team. So some of that is normal.
But you know, we've seen specific people say that they
are preemptively resigning because they refused to work under Johnson.
(02:52):
The UK Education Minister quit before the election results were announced.
The Foreign Office Minister also resigned, The Secretary of State
for International Development resigned, The Chancellor of the Exchequer also resigned.
So we've seen some really high profile people leave government
and say that they will not work under Johnson, or
(03:13):
say that they don't approve of his vision of Brexit.
The UK is one of the top players in the world.
What has been the reaction from other world leaders. Yeah,
we've had quite a different scale of reactions, so it
depends on and who you look at. But the first
person at least that I saw make an official statement
on this and reach out was Donald Trump. He tweeted
(03:35):
about it kind of just a few minutes after the
results were announced. He said, congratulations on becoming the new
prime minister. He will be great. And then you know,
we had some foreign presidents and other leaders, like the
president of Turkey, the Prime Minister of Israel. But the
interesting part of this is looking at the reactions from
European leaders. Uh, and when you look there, the reaction
(03:58):
was decidedly more tempered and a little bit more cold.
So you had, for example, the Brexit spokesman for the
European Parliament, he tweeted that there would be a meeting
of the Brexit Steering Group to discuss what this would
mean for Europeans, and the European Commission Brexit negotiator also
had a sort of form type response. And we didn't
(04:22):
hear anything from kind of the major European presidents and
leaders like you know, the French president or a Glen
Merkel uh for for a long time, and when they
did speak, it wasn't necessarily the warmest reaction to his election.
Tell us a little bit more about Boris Johnson and
why he's so controversial. He was a journalist before he
(04:44):
was the Mayor of London and obviously now Prime Minister
and a very hardline proponent for Brexit, which is also
the next big thing he needs to take care of. Yeah, absolutely,
and I mean he has a lot of other challenges.
You know, people here and elsewhere, obviously and rightfully so,
are focused on Brexit because it's the biggest challenge right now,
but there are other really immediate challenges. The UK is
(05:04):
in the middle of a diplomatic crisis with a run
over um the Strait of Hormuz, so you know, he
has a lot of challenges that he's going to have
to deal with, and I think some people are worried
that he's not necessarily up for the job. Now you asked,
you know a little bit about him. He's a very
controversial figure. He was fired from a publication that he
(05:27):
worked at previously for making up a quote. He had
a reputation when he was a journalist as somebody who
was a very good writer but didn't always stick closely
enough to the truth in his articles. Um he you know,
then entered politics. He became mayor of London, which was
kind of an incredible feat because London is a very
(05:50):
liberal and cosmopolitan city and usually the mayors that get
elected are not conservatives. The last thing I want to
ask is just a little more on Brexit. Theresa May
stepped down after part meant repeatedly rejected the withdrawal agreement
she struck with the European Union. Boris Johnson says he
can get the EU to renegotiate on this, but they
say that they're not going to do that, and economists
(06:12):
are saying that if there's a no deal Brexit, that's
gonna disrupt trade, it might plunge the UK into a recession.
He said, come October thirty one, which is the deadline,
we're going to get out one way or the other.
It's the first thing that he's gonna have to be handling. Yeah. Absolutely,
And I mean the deadline is really looming October three.
And he said it, you know, we're leaving no matter what,
(06:34):
We're leaving. With a dealer without a deal, and I
think that's what's scaring a lot of people is his
willingness to entertain the idea that the UK will leave
without a deal um And like you said, economists, analysts
have all said that that would be a terrible outcome
for the UK and for the EU two. So I
think everybody's pretty keen to avoid that. But he's he's
a little bit of an unpredictable actor. So you know,
(06:56):
we don't really know why he thinks that the conditions
are to be any different for him than they were
for Theresa May, but he seems pretty convinced that he's
going to be able to get a different deal out
of the EU. And some of President Trump's follow up
he also called Boris Johnson Britain's Trump and called him
tough and smart. So it seems like we have two
very similar guys at the helm right now. So it'll
(07:17):
be very interesting to see what's in store for the
UK and what's in store for the United States as
the relationship is going to continue there. Annabelle tim sit
reporter at Courts based in London. Thank you very much
for joining us. Thanks for having me. We can only
(07:41):
speculate we don't know who did it, so then we
don't know why they did it. I mean if the
sad thought is potentially they wanted him for his feathers,
which is there is a black market for um bald
eagle and golden eagle feathers, which is, you know, a
very sad thought. Joining us now is Maurica Nelson, assistant
director at the Quag Wildlife Refuge. Thanks for joining as Marissa,
(08:01):
thanks for having me off. We're gonna be talking about
Sammy the bald eagle. He's had a pretty tough life
as it is, and now we've just found out that
he's been bird napped. He is a thirty five year
old bald eagle and somebody broke into the Wildlife Refuge there,
which is located on Long Island, and and took him.
(08:21):
Tell us a little bit more about this, Marisa. Yes,
so this happened last Tuesday. Last Tuesday morning, we discovered
he was not in his enclosure. The cage was cut through,
and so that was extremely upsetting to find out that
someone broken and stole sam the bald eagle. Now you
(08:42):
guys have surveillance footage of this. So somebody broke in
between two fift and four fifteen in the morning. We
don't know where the bird is exactly, either wrapped up
in a blanket or a bag or something, but he's
walking away pretty calmly. He was, and that was quite
disturbing and that he seemed quite comfortable and confident there. Um,
my husband myself live on the refuge property and so
(09:06):
unfortunately didn't hear anything. And we have the cameras up
that did detect him, you know, coming and going, and
so that is assisting in in some of the investigation. Now,
bald eagle is quite a large animal. They're very strong,
they have sharp talents. I mean, how easy is it
(09:27):
to kind of subdue one, to grab one from an enclosure?
At first, he had to cut through two sets of
fences to get in. I don't know if the bird
would be startled by somebody kind of coming into his enclosure.
How do you subdue a bird like this? Well, I'm
not sure exactly what happened. I don't know if the
bird was tranquilized. He's not a handleable bird, you know,
(09:48):
there are some birds of prey that are used to
being handled and on a falcony glove, He's certainly is
not one that we handled. He did not like being
very close to people. Marisa, you've been working and handle
Sammy since two thousand three. Tell us a little bit
about him, what does he eat, what does he do
during throughout the day, and and also tell us about
his his wing because he only has one wing and
(10:10):
had to be the other one had to be amputated. Right,
So so he at the Quack Wildlife Refuge wee house
permanently injured wildlife, so in the outdoor enclosures. To instance,
um sam the Baldic moved in here because he needed
uh permanent housing. He was out in the Western state
somewhere with shots how to have his wing amputated. And
(10:31):
then they've found housing for him because he was an
unreleasable bird because he's not flighted. Um. So that's his
background story. And then once he's been here, he's lived
happily in his enclosure, gets around really well with climbing
and using his very strong feet and hopping around. You know,
while he's in the cage. He has a big bird
bath that he likes to bathe in. He does interact
(10:52):
with all the visitors dot com. He's very chatty as
you can see from the video that's on our Facebook
and website. As a bird of prey, they are eat eaters,
so we would feed him, you know, dead rodents and
sometimes fresh fish. A lot of local fisher men and
women would bring us some local fish for him to eat.
He was healthy. Since he's been here, he hasn't needed
to see a vent or anything, so he was a
(11:13):
pretty strong, healthy bird, minus his disability of having just
one wing. It is a federal crime to possess a
bald eagle without a permit. I've read that it's even
illegal to possess a single bald eagle feather. Um. You know.
I obviously we don't know, but if you can speculate
what purpose would somebody want to take this bald eagle,
(11:33):
we can only speculate. We don't know who did it,
so then we don't know why they did it. I mean,
if the sad thought is potentially they wanted him for
his feathers, which is there is a black market for
um bald eagle and golden eagle feathers, which is, you know,
a very sad thought. So it's being investigated thoroughly right now.
There's a variety of law enforcement agencies working on this
(11:55):
because this is being taken very seriously because it is
a federal crime considered grand larceny at this time and
it's been over a week now, you know, there is
a fifteen thousand dollar reward for anything that you know,
for any information and leading that could possibly lead to
and rest. Um what have police been saying about this
so far? They haven't really come up with anything just yet, well,
(12:15):
nothing that is that we're sharing or reporting on at
this time. So the the reward is being provided by
both Nasson Suffolk County SPC a S as well as
our local crime stoppers. So we're hoping that even though
the of course the priority is to get Sam the
Baldy go back here safely, that the reward will lead
(12:40):
to UM finding the perpetrator. I read one of the
stories that you guys don't necessarily even want to press charges.
You just want Sam back alive and you can drop
them off there or at a local vet or something.
It's you know, you just want him back unharmed. That's
the priority is to UM drop him somewhere safely. You
can call in anonymously to crime stoppers. Short of somewhere
(13:00):
anonymously and let us know. Worry is, everyone knows that
theory is being looked for, and so that is certainly
the priority is his well being. Yeah, I mean he's
a beautiful bird. I've seen the videos. He he looks
like he's got a great personality and interacts well with
the community there. Who've you known him now for many
many years. So best of luck. I hope somebody delivers
the tip that leads us to him, or somebody turns
(13:21):
him back in. Maurica Nelson, Assistant director at the quag
Wildlife Refuge, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you, Oscar.
You've actually been designed really carefully so that the slits
in the wall are angled up so that you cannot
(13:43):
sense your own location in this giant compound. So you're
maybe getting a little bit of a view of the sky,
but you have sort of this planned disorientation at all times.
Joining us now is Eleanor Cummins, Assistant editor at Popular Science.
Last week, El Chapo was sentenced to life in prison
plus thirty years for drug trafficking, money laundering, all sorts
(14:05):
of bad stuff. El Chappo has just been this kind
of legendary crime figure for the Sinaloa cartel for so long.
He was put in prison twice and escaped twice. He
just has this, for lack of better word, amazing story
behind him. But now he's off to prison for good.
He's going to be going to the Alcatraz of the Rockies.
(14:26):
It's the super max prison known as a d X Florence,
and it sits in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains.
This is where they send people who are no longer
being rehabilitated. They're just there to live the rest of
their life out in prison. Tell us a little bit
about this place, because it's kind of a who's who
of bad guys. It definitely is. So El Chappo will
be joining one of the brothers involved in the Boston
(14:47):
Marathon bombing. He'll be joining the UNI bomber. He'll be
joining Mafioso's people who were secretly spying for the Soviets,
an individual involved in the nine eleven conspiracy, someone who
planned the ninet World Trade Center bombing. It really is,
uh the worst of the worst. So what elevates this
place above the rest? Because, as I mentioned, he escaped twice.
(15:09):
One time he escaped in a laundry cart another time,
he had people dig a tunnel underneath the prison right
up to us cell. He popped down. There was like
a motorcycle attached to a rail system, and he drove
like a mile out to like a little safe house
and then he escaped in six months later. He was
caught after that, but he's known for these dramatic escapes.
(15:32):
What's going to prevent him from doing it this time?
A d X Florence is in the rocky mountains at
the very base, and it's sort of this remote facility
where they feel, you know, that they have really got
things locked down at the perimeter. They have lasers, they
have dogs, they have twelve gun towers. They really have
that area secured and even if you got out, you know,
(15:53):
you'd be in the middle of nowhere. What's more is
the way that the actual cells are designed and the
facilities that the inmates are living in. The cells are
concrete and reportedly soundproof, the idea there being that prisoners
will be able to communicate to each other that way.
The floor is like loaded with sensors, pressure sensors. There
are sort of lasers inside as well. They are watching
(16:16):
you all the time. They can literally, you know, sense
your footsteps, so it's extremely monitored. Yeah, that is crazy.
There's four remote controlled doors, and they can control the
movement the flow. I'm assuming of all those doors as well.
You mentioned now everything in the cell is concrete, the shower,
the desk, the bed. I've seen some pictures of this.
(16:37):
UM how big are these cells that each person is assigned.
There's seven by twelve feet, so pretty tight quarters. And
the thing too, is this environment is pretty much the
only thing you're going to see for the rest of
your stay. Prisoners spend roughly twenty three hours a day
alone in their cell, and so it's their entire world.
There's a slot in the door where they throw you
your meals, but still there's little to no interaction with
(17:00):
inmates or guards. Amnesty International did a look into the
facility there and they called it entombed isolation in the
US prison system. But they said that prisoners go days
without barely a few words being spoken to them. Right. Yeah,
So psychiatric evaluations like meetings with your priest or and mom,
all of those things are going on through this slot
(17:22):
in the door, and they're fairly rare. Even when you're
meeting with your lawyer. UM, Amnesty International reported, you're totally
tied up. They're restrained, and the restraints can be really severe.
People have reported that inmates have their feet and hands
shackled and then all of that tied to belt around
their waist, and sometimes their cuffed hands are even placed
inside a black box to further restrain them. So you know,
(17:45):
you might get these sort of moments of freedom or
human interaction, but they're extremely limited. You're physically limited. The
spaces is really just designed for holding people right for
the rest of their lives, and that extends to your
time outside also, which is are limited. Their outside space
is kind of an individual cage, separated from other people.
The last thing I wanted to ask you about because
(18:06):
I mean, this place just sounds fascinating. I'd be curious
to hear if anybody has ever tried anything suspect are
trying to fight somebody or get out of there. But
tell us about these windows that each cell has, because
it's fascinating the way they laid out in a way
that you can't tell where you are on the premises
(18:27):
still right, So every cell has a four inch wide
window that allows for some natural light, which maybe sounds nice,
but They've actually been designed really carefully so that the
slits in the wall are angled up so that you
cannot sense your own location in this giant compound. And
this is, you know, a further security measure. So you're
maybe getting a little bit of a view of the sky,
(18:49):
maybe you can see the roof of the building next
to you, but you have sort of this planned disorientation
at all times. And this is something that the very
few people who have left a d X flour and
have remarked on being one of the most harrowing parts
of their stay in the facility is just, uh, you know,
looking out this window and not being able to see anything,
and and knowing that when you arrived, the Rocky Mountains
(19:11):
were there, right, They're brilliant and beautiful, and you're never
going to see them again. It's just an extremely isolating
and controlled environment. Eleanor Cummins, Assistant editor at Popular Science.
Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you. That's
it for today. Join us on social media at Daily
(19:33):
Dive Pod on Twitter and Daily Dive Podcast on Facebook.
Leave us a comment, give us a rating, and tell
us the stories that you're interested in. Follow us on
I Heart Radio or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
This episode of The Daily Dive is produced by Brooke
Peterson and engineered by Tony Sorrentina. I'm oscar A Mirrors
and this was your Daily Dive
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